[ZenoArrow]

Swindon is rural England? It's the 10th biggest town in the UK, with a population that exceeds some cities. Pretty much the only reason it's not a city is the archaic rule that cities have to have a cathedral.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8705932/Britai...

[circular_logic]

This is a common misconception that I stumbled upon a few months ago.

  -  The cathedral requirement was only to the 19th Century.

  -  Size does not matter. For example St Davids is a city with only 1,600 inhabitants

  -  A city in the UK is a place that has been granted city status by the monarch.

  -  You can loose city status for similar arbitrary reasons

  -  London is not even a fucking city in this system!

UK city definition is perhaps one of the dumbest concepts in the UK due to its disparity with the populations expectation of actual criteria.

Sources:

  -  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13841482

  -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_status_in_the_United_Kingdom

[timthorn]

> London is not even a city in this system!

Well, there is the City of London aka the Square Mile, as well as the City of Westminster.

[circular_logic]

Yes with populations of 9,400 and 247,600 respectively. They seem to invalidate the rest of the city from city status.

[timthorn]

Swindon is a big town, but is arguably in a rural location.

However, cities do /not/ need a Cathedral - just a Royal Charter. Look at e.g. Cambridge.